Energy policy under austerity localism: what role for local authorities?

In the UK, local authorities (LAs) have been placed at the forefront of domestic energy-reduction strategies as the responsible actors for coordinating policy in this sector. Yet, there has been little research regarding the role of LAs in this policy agenda, and their abilities to bring together stakeholders in the successful design and implementation of strategies to reduce energy demands. The paper aims to fill this gap by highlighting the relevance and importance of the energy policy sphere to local government studies, building on the idea of resilient LAs within the context of tensions between the localism agenda and the actual implementation of energy efficiency polices. This is achieved through multiple rounds of semi-structured interviews with LA officers. Our findings reveal that LAs, operating under a localism agenda, lack the freedoms and resources from central government to meet the needs of multiple stakeholders, resorting to short-term policies.     

ROSCA Composition and Repayment: Evidence from Taiwanese Bidding ROSCAs

Rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs) are widespread and remain a key financial management tool for poor individuals. We analyse data from Taiwanese bidding ROSCAs and focus on how social relationships within the group influence contribution behaviour and ROSCA failure. We find that less socially-connected participants were more likely to receive the pot early in the cycle, which increases their incentive to default, yet contrary to accepted wisdom groups including more outsiders were not more likely to experience repayment problems. Our results highlights how bidding ROSCAs can be a versatile device that provide profitable savings while allowing for emergency credit.     

Give them toys? Military allocations and regime stability in transitional democracies

In contrast to the conventional wisdom that democratization reduces coups, 46% of coups targeted democracies from 2000–2009, twice the rate seen in the prior half-century. Efforts to explain coups have arrived at wildly varied conclusions regarding the vulnerability of democracies. We argue that this is attributable to regime type acting as a conditional influence. We theorize that democratization incentivizes old elites to veto the process, and these vetoes are more likely to occur when the new regime cannot credibly commit to the military’s corporate interests. Using cross-national data for 172 states for the years 1952–2009, we find that though young democracies are more vulnerable to coups than either civilian authoritarian regimes or older democracies, this vulnerability is mitigated when military expenditures are near or above the sample mean. We also find that commonly argued determinants of coups appear to be driven by their influence in democracies, suggesting the need for scholars to revisit commonly held assumptions regarding autocratic survival.     

Linking strategy and performance: Developments in the New Zealand public sector

In recent decades, many governments have sought to improve their systems of strategic management and priority setting. Few of these attempts have met with unequivocal success. In particular, the systems for “whole-of-government strategizing” have not been well integrated into the ongoing budgetary processes and departmental performance management systems. In 1993—1994, as part of its comprehensive reforms of the public sector, the New Zealand government instituted a new system of strategic management. The new approach—which in part grew out of the National government's attempt to outline its long-term vision in a document titled Path to 2010—involves the ministers specifying a series of medium-term policy goals, referred to as “strategic result areas” (SRAs), and then translating these into more detailed departmental objectives, known as “key result areas” (KRAs). More specific “milestones” are subsequently identified to serve as benchmarks against which the achievement of departmental KRAs can be assessed. This article describes and evaluates this new approach and considers its possible application in other countries.     

Now you see it,now you don’t: digital images and the meaning of ‹possession’

The advent of digital technology has had a profound impact on the production and distribution of child pornography. The international trade in such material is a major focus of law enforcement agencies around the world. Central to these efforts is the offence of ‹possession.’ However, concepts of possession in the criminal law evolved in the context of tangible items such as drugs, and their application to intangible data presents significant challenges. Drawing upon the laws of Australia, Canada, England and the United States, this article analyses the concept of criminal possession in a digital context. While courts and legislatures are adapting to these new challenges, in some cases it is argued that the offence of possession is being stretched too far. It is suggested that some of these difficulties may be avoided by utilising an offence of ‹accessing’ child pornography. Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, Monash University. I am grateful to Dr. Dale Smith for his helpful comments on an earlier draft of this article.     

Natural gas security problems in Europe: the Russian–Ukrainian crisis of 2006

Energy security is, once again, a fashionable topic of conversation in Europe particularly in relation to natural gas, but most of the commentary is relatively general, failing to identify any specific problems. The Russian–Ukrainian gas crisis of January 2006 focussed attention on a specific natural gas security problem: the impact of a bilateral dispute on the transit of Russian gas via Ukraine. This episode reinforced old security lessons on the importance of diversity of routes and sources, but also showed that current events can be more influential than projections of supply adequacy at some date in the future. This event has highlighted the potential role of the European Union in natural gas diplomacy, and the Energy Charter Treaty in the legal framework for gas transit. But the most important legacy of the episode may be not in Russia–EU, but in Russia–CIS, energy relations.